Medical Update and the Jan 23rd "Scare"
So... the swollen uvula is called "uvulaitis"... and it took me a week to rehydrate my soft pallet and get my uvula to shrink back to normal size again. Can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to not have that tickling feeling at the back of my throat. Though, my pallet is still a little dry, so my snoring is still a bit louder than usual.
Aside from that, things have been going well. My protein counts have gone down! I believe my scores were 150, 346, +800, +2000, +5000, +5000, and now +4000-- I'm doing another 24 hour test starting today and should have results tomorrow afternoon. Pre-eclampsia or Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) is the "new school" term for the "old school" Toxemia, I've just learned... so if you're "old school"-- I have Toxemia.
No one knows what causes it, but it typically only impacts a first pregnancy. I've heard all sorts of theories-- that it's a faulty placenta, that it's caused by poor diet, it's an allergic reaction to Jordan's DNA (that it's genetic), etc. The current leading theory is the genetic one. It does make sense... since there are similar genetic conditions that we know exist-- for example, the condition Henry VIII had... His wives could only get pregnant once because they would become immune to Henry's DNA and the second babies would die in the womb. Every. Time. It makes me wonder if pre-eclampsia works the same way.
Anywho-- the protein counts indicate a poorly functioning set of kidneys. Kidney failure is one of the symptoms. As is liver failure-- which is detectable by the uric acid and creatinine. My levels have been pretty "normal", but they're slowly crossing into the range of bad. So... I'm stable, but I could go toxic pretty quick... and that's why I'm here in the hospital. Well, that and I have a couple other symptoms-- the high blood pressure and the swelling. The good news is that I don't have more of the bad symptoms.
The hospital is worried that I'll go home and get toxic really quick... bed rest is the only known thing to effectively stall the ill impacts of PIH. So... that's why I've been in the hospital since January 2nd.
We did have a scare on the evening of January 23rd... I took Benadryl before bed and it, plus this strange weather system that moved into town, combined to drain all the snot from my sinuses into my tummy. This made my tummy upset and I got all sorts of bad symptoms of PIH-- ripping headache, upper gastric pain, nausea... I called Jordan, who came back to the hospital while I called the nurse... who called the doctor... who wanted to move me to Labor and Delivery, but the nurse talked the doctor into just moving me to the triage unit for monitoring. They put in an IV "just in case"... drew blood for some blood work... and then they monitored the baby for about an hour. After an hour, they were getting ready to send me back to my room when I finally emptied the contents of my stomach... and then I felt loads better. I felt really, really good. I went back to my room, Jordan tucked me in before he went back home... and I slept through most of the night.
... so... it was nothing that could have been something.
I hit the 34 week mark on Monday! After that point, I'm not too worried about this boy... but, apparently, they grow faster in the womb than out of it, so the longer I keep this boy in there the better off he'll be in the long-run. We'll take things a week at a time. One day at a time. Then, we'll go from there!
Aside from that, things have been going well. My protein counts have gone down! I believe my scores were 150, 346, +800, +2000, +5000, +5000, and now +4000-- I'm doing another 24 hour test starting today and should have results tomorrow afternoon. Pre-eclampsia or Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) is the "new school" term for the "old school" Toxemia, I've just learned... so if you're "old school"-- I have Toxemia.
No one knows what causes it, but it typically only impacts a first pregnancy. I've heard all sorts of theories-- that it's a faulty placenta, that it's caused by poor diet, it's an allergic reaction to Jordan's DNA (that it's genetic), etc. The current leading theory is the genetic one. It does make sense... since there are similar genetic conditions that we know exist-- for example, the condition Henry VIII had... His wives could only get pregnant once because they would become immune to Henry's DNA and the second babies would die in the womb. Every. Time. It makes me wonder if pre-eclampsia works the same way.
Anywho-- the protein counts indicate a poorly functioning set of kidneys. Kidney failure is one of the symptoms. As is liver failure-- which is detectable by the uric acid and creatinine. My levels have been pretty "normal", but they're slowly crossing into the range of bad. So... I'm stable, but I could go toxic pretty quick... and that's why I'm here in the hospital. Well, that and I have a couple other symptoms-- the high blood pressure and the swelling. The good news is that I don't have more of the bad symptoms.
The hospital is worried that I'll go home and get toxic really quick... bed rest is the only known thing to effectively stall the ill impacts of PIH. So... that's why I've been in the hospital since January 2nd.
We did have a scare on the evening of January 23rd... I took Benadryl before bed and it, plus this strange weather system that moved into town, combined to drain all the snot from my sinuses into my tummy. This made my tummy upset and I got all sorts of bad symptoms of PIH-- ripping headache, upper gastric pain, nausea... I called Jordan, who came back to the hospital while I called the nurse... who called the doctor... who wanted to move me to Labor and Delivery, but the nurse talked the doctor into just moving me to the triage unit for monitoring. They put in an IV "just in case"... drew blood for some blood work... and then they monitored the baby for about an hour. After an hour, they were getting ready to send me back to my room when I finally emptied the contents of my stomach... and then I felt loads better. I felt really, really good. I went back to my room, Jordan tucked me in before he went back home... and I slept through most of the night.
... so... it was nothing that could have been something.
I hit the 34 week mark on Monday! After that point, I'm not too worried about this boy... but, apparently, they grow faster in the womb than out of it, so the longer I keep this boy in there the better off he'll be in the long-run. We'll take things a week at a time. One day at a time. Then, we'll go from there!